Your Child
by mercurybard
Summary: AU from DNA Mad Scientist. Zhaan discovers something unusual about Aeryn and Crichton's twoyearold son.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own _Farscape_. I don't even have the damn DVDs :pouts:

A/N: Takes place in an AU universe sometime after "DNA Mad Scientist"

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"Aeryn, come look at this," Zhaan hissed, waving the former Peacekeeper over to where the woman was lurking just outside the cell Aeryn and her husband, John Crichton, used as living quarters.

"What is it?" Aeryn asked as she too crouched down and peered through the bars into her room.

"Just watch," Zhaan instructed.

Aeryn sighed impatiently, but she did as the Delvian suggested and watched. The only one in her room was her son, Jack, who had just celebrated his second cycle not long ago. He was sitting in the middle of the floor playing with several soft foam balls, his dark hair hanging in his eyes. John kept telling her to trim it, but the thought of taking a knife to those soft curls was more than she could bear…not that she told Crichton that. No, let him cut his son's own hair if he thought it needed it.

As she and Zhaan watched, Jack threw one of the foam balls at another, causing the other to roll beyond his reach. The child screwed up his handsome little face as if he was going to cry, but no sound escaped him. Instead, a DRD, hidden before by the fall of bedclothes, scooted out from under the bed. It zipped across the floor to the escaped ball and nudged it back over to Jack.

"The DRD is…playing with my son," Aeryn murmured in disbelief.

"Not just that specific DRD," Zhaan corrected softly, "But several different ones. I believe a new one comes each time he requires their assistance."

Aeryn looked over at the blue woman in confusion. "You aren't suggesting that he's _summoning_ them?"

"Did you not see the look on his face right before the DRD appeared? It is similar to the one Crichton wears when he is thinking particularly hard."

"The one that makes him look like he's in pain—yes, that was it. Still, Zhaan, how in Hez can my son order DRDs around with his mind?"

"That is what we must find out."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own _Farscape_. I don't even have the damn DVDs :pouts:

A/N: Takes place in an AU universe sometime after "DNA Mad Scientist". Sorry these are so short. I'm having trouble focusing again.

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"Crichton, your son is acting strange!"

John looked up from where he was tinkering with his module. His wife, her hair pulled back in a no-nonsense braid, had just entered the maintenance bay, holding their two-year-old son in front of her. The toddler, happy to be going for a ride, kicked and gurgled. "Dah!" he said, waving his chubby fists towards John.

"He's your son too," Crichton said as he set down the tool he'd been using and took Jack from her. "Half his DNA is yours."

The look that came over Aeryn's face was really indescribable—shock and realization, but not a pleasant realization… He didn't have time to finish analyzing her expression before she turned on a heel and ran back out of the maintenance bay.

"Aeryn!" John looked down at his child. The little boy beamed up at him. "Well, kiddo, looks like Mommy's got something on her mind. Why don't we see if we can catch her?"

"Mama!" Jack declared.

John took that as a 'yes' and swung the little sprout up onto his shoulders. The kid loved riding up there.

"Taw rhide!" Jack squealed, grabbing two fistfuls of John's hair and tugging.

"Ow! Leave Daddy's hair alone, you little bugger." Jack just squealed some more, so John switched tactics. "Pilot, where's Aeryn?"

The Pilot's voice came back over the comm. "She's with me, Commander."

"Put her on the phone—Aeryn, what the frell is going on?"

"Fhell!" Jack screeched happily.

"Crichton, you had better not be teaching Jack bad words," Aeryn muttered.

She sounded distracted, and he thought he heard her messing with something. "Aeryn…"

"John, get your eema up here," was her only response.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own _Farscape_. This fanfiction is written purely for entertainment purposes only.

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"Officer Sun, are you suggesting that young Jack inherited some of my DNA from you?" Pilot asked. He reached out an arm and gently stroked the side of the toddler's face as Crichton held the child in his arms.

"I can't think of how else he could communicate with the DRDs," Aeryn admitted. There was a haunted look in her green eyes.

Crichton shifted Jack to his right arm so he could put his other hand on the small of her back. Parenthood had been a struggle for the former PK pilot. Best he could tell, Jack had been conceived the first time they had slept together, well before she was ready for dating, much less a permanent relationship like the one that was supposed to exist between mother and child. The Peacekeepers had apparently bred maternal instinct out of their soldiers. Aeryn was never really comfortable with the day-to-day tasks of living with an infant, and Crichton had found himself doing most of the work of raising Jack. He was the one who had gotten up for midnight feedings and walked the corridors of Moya until the boy fell back asleep.

Far from being shocked or angry like Crichton had expected, Pilot was beaming as he touched the toddler. "Moya and I have been aware of a presence on the ship for some time now. A very small voice. Moya is pleased that it is Jack."

"What about you, Pilot?" Crichton asked quietly, rubbing his hand in small circles across the soft skin of Aeryn's back.

"I…I never thought to have a child. When I left my home world to join with Moya, I gave any chance to have offspring. It seemed like an equitable trade to see the stars. But I am proud that part of me resides in young Jack."

Jack, used to Pilot's touch, cooed and clapped his chubby little hands. A nearby DRD squeaked in a robotic version of laughter and spun in little circles. All the adults in the den looked from the DRD to Jack and back again.

"Oh-kay," Crichton drawled, "That's going to take some getting used to."

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A/N: Thanks to Therethanfan384, SabineHolterman, and gwspeanut for the reviews.


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